Brightening a very dark hallway..

juspsychojo

Hiii. I've been talking to my partner about ways to brighten our very dark hallway and I'm looking for further suggestions and advice please:

We have the exterior front door then a solid interior door which has a window above presumably to allow a little light through to the hall when the door is closed, it isn't very effective tho.

I don't think there's enough light in the hall for a standard wall mirror to make a difference so have discussed putting mirrors on the ceiling in the entrance to reflect the available light downward. Pic as an example if what I mean:


We've also discussed changing the interior door to one with glass panels as this will allow more light in- however! I don't want to lose all the heat through the glass: do they do interior doors with glass panels that maintain insulation? Do they cost a fortune?

The only other ideas I have to brighten it currently is repainting making sure everything is gloss and/or silk to increase the amount of light reflecting surfaces.. it's currently all matt. And also add laminate flooring but that seems like it might be costly.

Anyone else got any bright ideas please? Oh and I don't want to add any more artificial lighting- our electricity bill is big enough ^_^

Head_The_Ball

Those mirrors will be less effective and will cost a lot more than the electricity used by some additional low energy lighting.

Norman_Castle

White paint reflects about 96% of light so the mirrors are pointless. You can use a double glazed exterior door although depending on how cold it is between the doors single glazed is probably fine.

-taff

LED lights are cheap to run, buy some.

juspsychojo

Thanks for your replies.

I do have led spotlights all down the hall, i just dont feel like i should have to switch the lights on constantly when it seems bright enough outside..

The ceiling is white at the moment and doesn't seem to be doing a great deal of reflecting.. it is not gloss tho. Perhaps I should just repaint and see how it looks..

peachyprice

We just decorated our previously dingy hallway. We fitted a partially glazed interior door, painted the walls light greys in silk, painted all the woodwork in brilliant white satin, got a clear glass light fitting with a 1520 lumen bulb. It's really bright and fresh now. The two biggest improvements were from the door and light fitting.

Sorry, just seen you have spots, have you tried bulbs with a wider spread?

Ebe_Scrooge

Would one of those - what-do-you-call-them, sun-tube, sun-tunnel ? - things be an option ? My parents have one in their hallway ( it was there when they bought the house ), and it's surprising how much light it gives.